The third film in the updated Apes series depicts an all-out war between humans and a species of intelligent, vocal apes for the future of the planet, and is deeper and darker than the two films that preceded it. Seresin characterized it as a “colossal achievement” on the part of director Matt Reeves.

“Strangely enough, a lot of the reviews of it—which is quite heartening, in a way, for a major blockbuster —it’s almost as if it were more of an art film, if that makes sense,” the DP told Deadline’s Joe Utichi. “A lot of people that are normally very dismissive of these sorts of films found stuff in it, a smaller, more personal, more European movie.”

To view Deadline’s conversation with Seresin—in which he also discusses the evolution of the Apes aesthetic—click above.